LONDON (Reuters) - Swimming can significantly ease the
debilitating pain of fibromyalgia, an ailment with no known
cure, European researchers said on Friday.

The condition mainly strikes women and can cause severe
pain and tenderness in muscles, ligaments and tendons. Shoulder
and neck pain is common but some people with the condition also
have problems sleeping, and suffer anxiety and depression.

In their study of 33 women, the researchers had one group
exercise in warm water for more than an hour three times a week
for eight months while the others did no aquatic training.

The women who swam said the workouts helped ease their pain
and they reported an improved quality of life, said Narcis Gusi
at the University of Extremadura in Spain and Pablo Tomas-Carus
of the University of Evora in Portugal, who conducted the
study.

ADVERTISEMENT

"The addition of an aquatic exercise program to the usual
care for fibromyalgia in women is cost-effective in terms of
both health care costs and societal costs," they wrote in the
journal Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Doctors usually prescribe exercise and relaxation
techniques, painkillers or sometimes a low-dose antidepressant
to treat the symptoms.

Pregabalin, a drug that calms nerve cells, gained U.S.
regulatory approval in June to treat the condition. It is sold
as Lyrica by Pfizer Inc..

In November, U.S. researchers showed that women who
participated in a physical training regimen said they had less
pain, better physical functioning and vitality.

Gusi and Tomas-Carus said they did not compare aquatic
training with other forms of exercise such as low-impact
aerobics, walking and tai-chi.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn, Editing by Maggie Fox and
Robert Woodward)